


A Lifetime With You

by BabySnoopy



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Growing Up Together, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 02:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16109330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabySnoopy/pseuds/BabySnoopy
Summary: three parts; your childhood with shua when you first move in to the house next door to his, your angsty teenage days when shua snuck you out past curfew, and what a steady life with him is like





	1. When We Were Kids

_Ding-dong!_ Daddy must be home! If it weren’t for the pink fluffy socks you had on, you might’ve reached the door faster than mommy did. But the socks were a must and you promised you would never ever take them off because when you wear them, you could glide across the wooden floor like those ballerinas on ice. Your old house had carpet everywhere so you only got to be a regular ballerina. You run and run to the door and clutch onto mommy’s leg, peering your head out the door to surprise daddy. But when you look up, you see a pretty lady instead and when you looked straight ahead, you noticed there were little arms clutched around her leg too. 

“Shua, don’t be shy! Say hi to our new neighbours!” You saw his eyes first. You thought they were super pretty like there were twinkling lights trapped inside of them. They reminded you of a cat’s. Or a tiger’s! You loved tigers, in fact, you had four tiger plushies guarding you at night on your bed. Shua was really shy at first and he waved at you with half-closed fists. You, on the other hand, were taught to make new friends by giving them _big_ hugs. Mommy says it makes you look friendly because hugs are warm and nice. So you let go of mommy and held your arms wide open, as wide as the ocean, for the shy boy.

“Oh! Isn’t that cute?” You hear mommy coo.

Thursdays became your favourite day of the week. At first, they were your least favourite because Shua started taking extra math lessons so that meant he couldn’t come play after school. Which made you really sad because you wanted to play with him on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, _and_ Fridays. You even tried pretending you didn’t know the answer to the teacher’s question so you could tell mommy you needed extra math lessons too. But mommy always knew when you were lying because she says your ears get really red and that you always looked at the floor. You wish you were better at lying. But that’s okay because now, whenever you heard Shua’s car starting, you run up to your front porch to wave him goodbye and he always made a silly face at the window. You always laughed until your tummy hurts and you stood there, waving and waving until you had to squint  _really_ hard to see the car that was getting smaller and smaller as it drove away.

What was more exciting than Thursdays, was when daddy brought out his barbecue into the backyard. Mommy would then put up these pretty lanterns to hang around the fence and there were hamburgers and hotdogs and also ice-cream and cake! You  _loved_ cake but Shua likes ice-cream better so you always chose ice-cream now. Mommy would be sitting with Shua’s mommy, giggling and chatting. You were pretty sure they were talking about you. Daddy and Shua’s daddy would be grilling the patties and fanning the smoke from the barbecue. Sometimes you and Shua would play hide-and-seek. Then, when that got boring, Shua brought his water guns over and you played police. And when you were bored with _that_ , you would play vets with your tiger plushies.

One time though, and you would never tell mommy this, you and Shua played family. Shua said he would play the daddy and you could play the mommy.

“My daddy likes to give mommy flowers sometimes,” he says as he carefully plucks three daisies from the ground and hands them to you. From then on, daisies were your favourite flowers ever and you doodled them in class whenever you were finished with the classwork and had to wait for everyone else.

“My mommy likes to play _really_ soft music and then ask daddy to dance with her!” You get up and hold your hand out to Shua because it was finally time to show him what all those hours spent gliding across the floor in your slippery socks were for. You were a tiny bit taller than him so when he looked up, you could see the pretty brown colours of his eyes. You made him put his hands on your hips and then you put yours on his shoulder. "See? Easy right?" At first you both rocked back and forth and then you started jumping and twirling. 


	2. In Our Teens

“Hurry up!” The stupid boy didn’t understand you were risking your life to do this. You swear Shua’s definition of whispering was hushed shouting and they, in no way, were the same. He might as well have yelled at your parents’ window with a speakerphone to let them know that you were sneaking out past curfew. Your knees were shaking as you swing the other leg over the balcony and tip-toe your way down the slanting roof, where Shua was standing on top of his car waiting to catch you. Don’t get the wrong idea, you were most definitely not a delinquent like your dumb best friend was. Forget the shy kid next door who had to stand on his toes to get on your eye level. Now it was _you_ who had to crane your neck upwards so you could properly look at him. And you had to, because the idiot still somehow managed to get stars caught in his eyes and you would do anything to go stargazing.

You didn’t see him much at school anymore and whenever you did, he always told you to call him by his full first name.

“But Joshua sounds so weird. It’s like I’m looking for a white dude who vapes in the Taco Bell parking lot.”

“Can’t say I haven’t done that before.” You rolled your eyes at him. Come to think of it, you’re not sure if he has ever said anything to you in which you _didn’t_ roll your eyes at. Much to your dismay, he no longer hung out with Seokmin and Minghao from their math lessons, which you only found out when they came over to play scrabble. They were the good kids, you liked them. Unlike the crowd Shua walked around with now, which includes boys like Jeonghan and Seungcheol. Even thinking about their names made you want to throw a fist. They were practically walking stereotypes and it was so unnecessary. All those romantic comedies of those rude high school jocks? Based on these boys entirely. You always thought Shua was too much of a feline to run with such a wild pack but he told you it made him feel cool and important. 

Shua was still real like that. He laid out all his fears and insecurities in front of you real easy, even if that put him at risk to your teasing. You couldn’t put up fronts in his presence either which was both frustrating and endearing at the same time. He caught you that time you were skipping meals because you were feeling a bit disgusted over the way your body looked. For the entire week, Shua came over to monitor your eating, bringing healthy snacks and also dragging you out of bed to go on jogs. He never questioned you, never expected an explanation. 

There was also that time when you had your first kiss. Like a _real_ first kiss with a boy named Mingyu from chem. He took you to homecoming as well because Shua was a jerk and Jeonghan had apparently gotten a date for him from their year level. The kiss wasn’t anything special, no fireworks or whatever happening in the dark movie theatre. Honestly, it was just a sloppy mush of lips and you thought it was kinda dumb that everyone gets so excited over things like that. You didn’t want to tell Shua about it but he coaxed it out of you anyway because he kept making outrageous guesses while holding your hair back to see if your ears were turning red. You wanted to bury yourself then and there or just hide forever, but there is no where in this world that Shua wouldn’t find you.

Now in the passenger seat, you were scared out of your mind about sneaking out like this, but watching Shua behind the wheel, his cheekbones, the tip of his nose, and his lips illuminated and then dimmed by the passing streetlights, that neurotic feeling sort of goes away. You find that you didn’t want to arrive at the destination. He’s telling you about some funny prank Seungcheol pulled on their bio teacher but all you can think is that he still laughs the same, and that it was still very much your favourite sound. 

Eventually, the car stopped and you realised he’d come all the way to the hilltop at the edge of the city, a high peak that overlooked the maze of city lights that glistened so brightly. The city buzz could never be muted, not even after midnight, but from here they seemed to be distant. With Shua, the entire world became distant. Everything felt exactly the same as when you were little, just substitute the starry night sky for streetlights and the freshly-mown grass for the hood of his car. 

He exhaled, a deep loud breath as if he placed every burden into it and blew it away.

“Tired?” He shrugged, shoulders brushing against yours.

For some reason, the air felt tight. There were a couple of seconds before his next response, as if he was carefully choosing his words. “I got a scholarship for uni.” You sat straight up and grabbed for his arm, realising you felt much more excited than he sounded.

“That’s amazing??? Isn’t it?”

“It’s a school five hours by plane from here.” Your heart sank, you felt your pulse coming from the pit of your stomach and suddenly found no words to carry on the enthusiasm you spat out just a second ago. It was shock at first, and slowly it turned into sorrow; all in a matter of minutes. The memories from just three years ago came flooding back as violent waves. The nights when he promised he’d choose a school nearby and how you taunted him, challenged him by asking what if his parents wanted otherwise. Coolly, he said he didn’t care. He said he’d do whatever he wanted because he said he couldn’t _stand_ to be too far apart from you. You were giddy, of course you were, but you were a child. This was the real deal, a scholarship and for the first time, it was something that was so much bigger than just the two of you.

Your gaze remained downward, at the frays of your ripped jeans. “All the more amazing…”

“Stop lying. Just say it.”

“Say what?”

“Come on, I know you hate it. Just ask me to stay and I will.” His voice was stern and now the sorrow morphed into something like resentment. Maybe he intended for the comment to come out as sweet or thoughtful but you understood it as nothing less than a jab at the selfishness he perceived of you.

“How could you say that? I would _never_ ask you to do that.” You were furious and you wanted nothing more than to yell at him or hit him, anything to release whatever this was that clogged your lungs. But he just sat there, placid and unagitated by the emotion that was stirring up inside you. Did he really care at all? Was he happy to just pack his bags and leave you behind like that? 

“The distance won’t be a problem. We’ll work through the timezones. We can schedule it, like every other day or so?” Suddenly. the anger dissipated and all you were left with were glassy eyes, avoiding his and trying to swallow the lump in your throat. Why did it feel like goodbye already?

The day Shua left for the airport was the worst day of your life. You already dreaded it in the weeks leading up but it never felt real until you were helping him put his suitcases in the trunk of his car. There was forced conversation as if you couldn’t let it be quiet, because the quiet allowed reality to settle and you were in denial, even when you held his passport in your very hands. Your chest hurt as his parents got into the car and he hugged your parents goodbye, saving you for last. There were no words in the entire world that could’ve alleviated the heaviness of the air when Shua stood in front of you and the tears welled up in his eyes. You’ve never seen him cry. The embrace that followed after was the longest you had ever hugged him, both of you trying to squeeze the oxygen out of the other. Years and years of warmth rubbed off onto each other and it was as if he was trying to take in as much of you as he could to bring, and you taking in as much of him to keep. 

Your tears only came after he was gone. You missed school for a couple of days because you couldn't get out of bed. A week after, mom said you were overreacting and needed to get over it and that was the first time you've yelled at her. She just didn't understand what it felt like. No one ever could. No one except for Shua.


	3. As We Are Now

Lazy mornings were bliss when you didn't realise how you've piled up a week’s worth of stress and exhaustion. You wanted to stay in bed forever, keeping the sun frozen as it was now, streaming gold into the blinds you forgot to close properly. Time was good when it was slow but taking a step back to think about how things unfolded the way they did, you weren’t sure how it all went by so quickly. Wasn’t it just yesterday you got off a four hour long distance call?

The door to your bedroom creaked open very slightly and was followed by little footsteps that thudded against the wooden floorboards. “Ssh, we can’t wake up mommy and daddy.” Just like his father, he didn’t know how to whisper quietly. You felt a tiny weight move from behind you, shifting from the middle of the bed towards your feet. “Come on Jas! Your bottle is ready downstairs and Winx Club is starting soon!” You knew that Winx Club was the selling point and so they rushed off together, hushing their giggles.

“Shua?” He hums in response, moving closer to you to fill the space that was previously occupied by your three-year-old.

“I can’t believe you taught him how to mix the powdered milk. He’s done it again this morning.”

He slips his arm around your waist, burying his face in the space between your shoulder and your chin, comfortably nestled in the crook of your neck. “What a good kid. Taking care of his sister.”

“That’s _your_ job.” He squeezes you lightly and you could feel the apples of his cheeks bunch up against your skin. If Winx Club was airing this morning, that meant it was Saturday and on Saturdays, Shua was in charge of breakfast. It took a couple years before you were able to get up in the morning without being greeted by the smell of burnt pancakes, but it wasn’t all jittery and new as everyone made it out to be. Oddly enough, it felt more like falling back into a familiar routine as opposed to getting used to a new habit. Your bed had always felt a little bit too spacious before Shua claimed the right side of it. Fate has its way of unravelling itself and you were sure your mom called it from the very first day you had met Shua.

“Mom? I’m hungry.” Says a voice coming from the door. You were never going to get tired of this. Never ever. 

“It’s dad’s turn to make breakfast. Time to wake him up!” 

A muffled groan of denial was heard from behind you before Shua’s grip around your waist loosened and he slid himself off the bed, making your son think that he really had the strength to pull a grown man off of the bed. "Okay, okay. What do you feel like eating little dude?"

"BREAD!!!" 

There had to be at least half an hour before breakfast was ready so you try to squeeze in a quick nap. You shut your eyes for what felt like a second before you heard your son return with a small voice coming from the door, as if he didn't just scream his love for bread a moment ago. “Dad wants to know if you want jam on your toast?” 

“Yes please, sweetie.” The footsteps left the door and not long after, came back again. 

“Actually, the jam is finished!” The boy was giggling uncontrollably, as if Shua had set him up to do this. “But we have orange juice… Do you want orange juice?”

“Sure, I’ll come down in a moment.” There was mumbled shouting coming from the boy, and then Shua, and then the sounds of a shrieking little girl who just seemed excited from the ongoing commotion. This time, the footsteps don’t stop at the door, and instead you felt the covers being slightly pulled off of you.

“Mom…”

“Let me guess, the orange juice is finished too?” You finally get up and look at the child who was shaking his head furiously, the widest grin spread across his face making his eyes crinkle into moon crescents the same way Shua's did.

You walked into the kitchen, with your boy latched onto your back because he said your piggy back rides were better than dad's, to see Shua still groggy, his hair dishevelled, face oily, wearing a worn out t-shirt as he spread butter over toast. You didn’t care if you were being a hopeless romantic loser but you’ve never seen him so beautiful. Not to mention your little girl was sitting in her high chair, already making a mess of the food in her bowl. You took your designated seat at the dining table as Shua brought the food over.

“Oh wow, Jasmine green tea sure is making a mess.” He takes his own designated seat, across from you.

“Can you please stop calling her that? She’s literally gonna grow up thinking her name is green tea.”

“Don’t look at me, Seungkwan started it!”

“Uncle Seungkwannie!” Baby Jasmine cooed.

Not every Saturday morning was lighthearted like this. There are days that you feel like yelling but don’t because the kids are watching and there are days Shua comes home without even glancing at you. But even so, every time you’re about to cry, every time you feel too tired, you’ll find him supporting your entire weight, even if he doesn’t say a single word to you. After everything, he still looks at you the same as that time he plucked a fistful of daisies off the ground for you. When you were kids, you thought he had fairy lights trapped in his eyes. In your teens, you swore his eyes caught the stars. And now, you'd tell him you see entire galaxies but he'd shake his head and say, "if you look more carefully, you'll see a reflection of yourself and the light from the window behind you every morning that you wake up next to me. And _you_ , easily outdo the stars."

And this was how you'd spend the rest of your lifetime.


End file.
